What's right is right: the Supreme Court gets it

Well known, and nationally highly respected University of Saskatchewan Law Professor, Ken Norman recently authored a paper entitled: What's right is right: the Supreme Court gets it. Professor Norman's paper is based on the June 2007 Supreme Court decision respecting HEU v the B.C. government and makes a profound statement about the Charter Rights of workers in Canada, including free collective bargaining and the right to strike.

The paper opens as follows:

"The Supreme Court’s judgment in Health Services signals a crucial change in the discourse of labour rights in Canada. In this case the Court rejects, in principle, its previous stance that the rights to organize and to engage in collective bargaining are not fundamental constitutional rights at all. The reasoning in Health Services stands on a recognition of labour history as establishing that labour rights are fundamental and predate the Charter; of labour rights as reflecting the Charter values of human dignity, equality, liberty, respect for the autonomy of the person and enhancement of democracry and of Canada’s commitments to collective bargaining rights in the international conventions as providing a floor of labour rights for interpretation of freedom of association, s.2 (d) of the Charter." (read more....)